Enjoying the last evening of our vacation at Le Marouba hotel, Martinique and thought I'd share its gorgeous sunset moments which seems appropriate for a a nice close to 2005. This shot happens to be the last sunset taken in 2005 before we flew back on 31 Dec.

Photographing in Martinique was also a personal study in sunsets. Found it hard to manage the levels of brightness in contrast with darkness and to get the most out of the different colours. The experience was great tho' and it allowed me to learn more about my camera (or rather its limitations). It's also the reason why I'm entering it - to get feedback. Like to thank Chris (cmeir) for his helpful comments and constructive criticism towards this entry.

Editing:
- adjustment layer for levels, curves, contrast, slight hue and saturation
- tilt by 0.5°and cropped some edges out
- cloned out a dark head in the sea and some shadow on the left
- added border

Post-Challenge: Thanks to all who left me comments and particularly for your high votes. This has been special as it was a moment captured of a wonderful romantic vacation plus, a personal best among so many excellent entries! :)

The palm across the top of the frame is great and the sky is wonderful. The placement of the yacht between the deckchairs is very good, too. The only thing that I would maybe change if I were forced to would be to crop a little tighter at the bottom of the frame, as I feel that there might be just a shade too much dark foreground there.

Personally I don't mind the centering of this as the chairs frame it nicely....not so sure everyone will respond favorably to it but how you like it is of the most importance anyhow.
The sun rays beaming down really add to this and keep it from looking static. The nice warm color tones give a feeling of relaxation.

Well captured. Tried one kinda like this a while back and didn't get it quite right, I know how hard these are, but you've said alot with this one, and I really do get the feeling of idyllic from this one so 9/10.